Furniture having components which can be assembled in different ways

ABSTRACT

An article of furniture having a seat portion and, if desired, an upper portion forming an arm or back. The seat portion has a lower frame and legs some of which are short and extend only downwardly from the lower frame and some of which are long and extend not only downwardly from but also upwardly from the lower frame. If an upper portion is joined to the seat the upper portion has a frame joined to the longer legs. The legs and frames are embedded in blocks of foam plastic with the legs extending downwardly beyond the lower block of a seat to the floor. The upper frames of the upper portions can be fixed to the longer legs. In this way it is possible to assemble components to provide articles of furniture of different desired configurations.

[11] 3,822,079 [451 July 2,1974

[ FURNITURE HAVING COMPONENTS WHICH CAN BE ASSEMBLED IN DIFFERENT WAYS[76] Inventor: Harvey Probber, Guion Rd., Rye,

[22] Filed: July 28, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 276,202

3,709,560 l/l973 Binek 297/440 Primary Eraminer-Paul R. GilliamAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Blum Moscovitz Friedman & Kaplan ABSTRACT Anarticle of furniture having a seat portion and, if desired, an upperportion forming an arm or back. The seat portion has a lower frame andlegs some of which are short and extend only downwardly from the lowerframe and some of which are long and extend not only downwardly from butalso upwardly from the lower frame. If an upper portion is joined to theseat the upper portion has a frame joined to the longer legs. The legsand frames are embedded in blocks of foam plastic with the legsextending downwardly beyond the lower block of a seat to the floor. Theupper frames of the upper portions can be fixed to the longer legs. In

this way it is possible to assemble components to provide articles offurniture of different desired configurations.

6 Claims, 30 Drawing Figures PAIENTEBJuL 21914 I SHEEI 1 0f 4 mEmEnJuL21914 3322.079

sum 3 m 4 I TEFL] a.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to articles offurniture.

In particular, the present invention relates to articles of furnituresuch as upholstered chairs having seats as well as, if desired, arms andbacks.

At the present time articles of furniture of this type are designed sothat a specific construction of an upholstered chair, for example, isprovided, and in order to save costs one specific design of anupholstered chair, for example, is repeatedly manufactured over andover. The drawback of this type of article of furniture resides in thefact that it does not lend itself to economical manufacture of differentdesigns of the article of fumiture. For example it may be highlydesirable to be able to manufacture economically upholstered chairs orthe like with different arrangements of arms and backs or even withoutarms and backs depending upon where the articles of furniture are to beused and the size of the space which is to be occupied by the articlesof furniture. For example if the article of furniture is to be placed ina corner of a room, or next to a wall of the room, one type of designmay be highly desirable, whereas if the article of furniture is to beplaced in an open space distant from a wall of a room an entirelydifferent type of design will be desired. Furthermore, depending uponthe space which is available it may be highly desirable to place severalarticles of furniture one next to the other according to a predeterminedpattern so as to form a sectional article of furniture which occupies arelatively large space with the different sec tions situated in such away as to provide an attractive appearance while at the same time beingconvenient to use and providing a high degree of comfort. Thus where anarticle of furniture is to be accommodated in a relatively large spacesuch as the lobby of a hotel or theater, there will be one set ofrequirements whereas where the article of furniture is to be located ina relatively small space such as a room in a house or in an office,.thenother requirements must be met.

In view of the above factors it is exceedingly difficult at the presenttime to manufacture economically articles of furniture which will beadapted for the various conditionsreferred to above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of thepresent invention to provide articles of furniture which can beeconomically manufactured to meet all of the varying requirementsencountered in practice, such as those referred to above.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide furniturecomponents of different shapes and sizes which can readily be combinedin an economical manner to provide an article of furniture of apreselected configuration. 1

It is especially an object of the present invention to provide anarticle of furniture of the above type where selected components can beassembled together quickly and economically to provide a relativelyinexpensive and at the same time comfortable and attractive article offurniture.

2 It is especially an object of the present invention to providearticles of furniture of the above type which are capable ofwithstanding a relatively large amount of wear and which at the sametime are easy to maintain.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles offurniture of the above type which are free of any pockets or the like inwhich dust can accumulate undesirably.

Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles offurniture of the above type which can readily and conveniently beprovided in an inexpensive manner with any desired covering fabric, forexample, so that not only is the initial manufacture of the article offurniture relatively inexpensive but in addition it is possible toreplace a covering whenever required without involving large costs.

It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide articlesof furniture of the above general type which lends themselves to beingplaced one next to the other to form in this way a sectional article offurniture having individual articles placed one next to the other toprovide a total attractive appearance with the final total article offurniture being both comfortable and capable of withstanding hard use.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide arelatively small number of components which can selectively be assembledin a number of different ways which give an almost limitless possibilityfor achieving furniture configurations of different shapes and sizes.

In accordance with the invention the article of furniture has a lowerseat portion, and if desired, at least one upper portion forming an armor back. An endless lower seat frame has a plurality of corners, and aplurality of elongated legs of different lengths are adapted to be fixedto the lower frame at the corners thereof. These legs include low,relatively short legs to be fixed to and extend only downwardly from anycorner of the lower frame which does not support an upper portion of thearticle of furniture. However, the legs also include high, relativelylong legs to be fixed to any cor ners of the frame which are to supportan upper portion of the article of furniture. These long legs extenddownwardly from the frame to the same extent as the short legs and alsoextend upwardly from the frame for a given distance. A plurality ofupper portions of the article of furniture respectively have upperframes which are adapted to be fixed to and extend upwardly from thelong legs, if any, which are fixed to the corners of the lower frame,these frames of the upper portions having lower extensions to be fixedto at least some of the longer legs. A lower block of resilient foamplastic in which the lower seat frame is located also encloses the legswhich extend downwardly beyond the block into engagement with the floor.This block of plastic extends upwardly from the lower frame and enclosesthose portions of the long legs which extend upwardly beyond the lowerframe. Additional upper blocks of resilient foam plastic are providedwith the upper frames embedded therein, and these upper frames havelower extensions which are fixed to the long legs, so that in this way apreselected combination of frames and legs can be assembled and embeddedin. the blocks to. provide articles of furniture of differentconfigurations.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspectiveexploded illustration of one possible combinationof components of the invention capable of being combined together toform part of an article of furniture of the invention;

FIG. 1A is a plan view of a lower frame of a different configurationfrom that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame which may be usedas part of a relatively low wide arm;

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame adapted to formpart of an arm or back of the article of furniture;

FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of a table arm capable of beingcombined with other components to form an article of furniture accordingto the invention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of part of the lowerframe of FIG. 1 showing different types of components assembledtherewith;

FIG. 6 is a perspective illustration of another type of upper frameadapted to be used in a relatively thin upper arm;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the structure of FIG. 1

shown without the spring of FIG. 1 and showing in phantom dot-dash linesthe final outline of the completed article of furniture;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section of the frame of FIG. 7 taken along line88 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing also in phantomdot-dash lines the outline of the final article;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse sectional elevation taken along line9-9 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing details of theconstruction;

FIG. 10 is a perspective illustration of one possible article offurniture according to the invention;

FIGS. 10a and 10b are respectively a perspective illustration of theframe of FIG. 10 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 10 showingthe interior frame in a phantom dot-dash line representation;

FIG. 11 is a perspective illustration of another possible configurationof an article of furniture according to the invention;

FIGS. 11a and 11b are respectively a perspective illustration of theframe structure of FIG. 11 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 11showing the frame in phantom lines;

FIG. 12 is a perspective illustration of a further possible article offurniture according to the invention, this article of FIG. 12corresponding to that shown in FIGS. 7-9;

FIGS. 12a and 12b are respectively a perspective illustration of theframe structure of FIG. 12 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 12showing the frame structure in phantom lines;

FIG. 13 is a perspective illustration of a further possible article offurniture which may be manufactured from the components of theinvention;

FIGS. 13a and 13b are respectively a perspective illustration of theframe structure of FIG. 13 and a top plan view of the article offurniture of FIG. 13 showing the frame in phantom lines;

FIG. 14 is a perspective illustration of yet another possible article offurniture according to the invention;

FIG. 14a and 1412 are respectively a perspective illustration of theframe structure of FIG. 14 and a top plan view of the article offurniture of FIG. 14 showing the frame in phantom lines;

FIG. 15 is a perspective illustration of a still further possiblearticle which may be constructed according to the invention;

FIGS. 15a and 15b are respectively a perspective illustration of theframe structure of FIG. 15 and a top plan view of the article offurniture of FIG. 15 showing the frame outline in phantom lines;

FIG. 16 is a side elevation of a frame structure of another embodimentof an article of furniture according to the invention, the outline ofthe completed article of furniture being shown in phantom lines in FIG.16; and

FIG. 16a is a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG.16.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, there isillustrated therein the inner frame structure of one possible article offurniture which may be constructed according to the invention. Thisinner frame structure includes a lower endless frame 20 which may bemade, for example, of any suitable tubular metal and which in theillustrated example has a rectangular or square configuration so that ithas four corners. However, it is to be understood that in accordancewith the invention the lower frame of the article of furniture may havedifferent configurations. Thus there is shown in FIG. 1A a lower frame22 which is also endless and made of a tubular metal, for example, butwhich has the configuration of a quadrant of a circle. Thus it ispossible in accordance with the invention to have lower frames either ofthe configuration of the frame 20 or the configuration of the frame 22,depending upon the final desired article of furniture, and of coursefurther configurations of endless lower frames are also possible.

The manufacturer of the furniture will have on hand a supply of framessuch as the frames 20 and 22. In addition, the manufacturer will have onhand a supply of different types of tubular leg components. Thus, thereis shown in FIG. I, at the corner 24 of the frame 20 a relatively low orshort leg component 26 which is selected from a supply of thesecomponents and which is fastened to the corner 24 in any suitable way asby being bolted or welded thereto. The remaining corners of the endlessframe 20 have fixed thereto relatively long legs 28 which may beconstructed of the same tubular stock as the legs 26 but which have alonger length, as is apparent from FIG. 1. In accordance with theinvention the relatively short or low legs 20 are fixed to any corner ofthe frame 20 (or 22) which is not to support an upper portion of thearticle of furniture, such an upper portion forming an arm or back, aswill be apparent from the description which follows. The long legs 28are fixed to comers of the frame 20 in the same way as the leg 26 andextend downwardly from the frame 20 to the same extent as the leg 26.However it will be noted that these legs 28 extend upwardly from theframe 20 through a given distance for a purpose referred to below.

FIG. 1 further illustrates a spring supporting assem bly 30 which may behooked on to the frame in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1.

The short legs 26 and the long legs 28 are used only at the corners ofthe frame 20 (or 22). Where an upper portion of the article, forming anarm or back thereof, is to be supported between the corners of the lowerframe 20, the manufacturer selects from different support stubs such asthe support stub 32 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, this support stub 32 is fixedat its lower end, as by welding or bolts or the like, to the frame 20extending upwardly therefrom in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 for thepurpose of supporting an upper portion of the article of furniture at alocation between the corners where the legs 26 or 28 are located.

FIG. 1 further illustrates an upper frame 34 which may be made oftubular metallic stock of a diameter slightly smaller than that of thestock from which the legs 26 and 28 are formed, so that the lowerextensions 36 of the upper frame 34 may be telescopically received inthe upper ends of a pair of legs 28, as is apparent from FIG. 1. Theupper frame 34 is reinforced by an elongated rod 38 of relatively smalldiameter which is fixed at its opposed ends in any suitable way to thepair of side arms of the upper frame 34 so as to reinforce the latter.It will be noted that while the upper frame 34 extends in a generallyupright direction upwardly from the legs 28 it is at the same timeinclined so as to extend outwardly beyond the outer frame 20, for apurpose referred to below.

The frame 34 is but one example of a plurality of different frames ofdifferent configurations and sizes which are kept on hand by themanufacturer so that by a selection from among the different frames itis possible to manufacture articles of furniture of differentconfigurations as will be apparent from the description which follows.

Thus, FIG. 2 shows an upper frame 40 which is of a horizontalrectangular configuration. and which has fixed thereto lower extensions42 adapted to be fixed in any suitable way to longer legs 28 orintermediate support stubs 32 in the manner described in greater detailbelow, the frame 40 forming part of an arm of the article of furniturewhich is of a relatively wide low configuration.

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame 44 which isidentical with the frame 34 except that it is shorter. Thus the leftlower extension 46 of the frame 44 may be joined to the left leg 28 ofFIG. I while the right lower extension 46 may be joined tothe supportstub32. In this case also the tubular stock which forms the frame 44 maybe telescopically received in the upper open ends of the left leg 28 andsupport stub 32 of FIG. 1, and it will be noted that frame 44 is alsoreinforced by an elongated rod 48.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table arm 50 according to the invention. This tablearm includes a relatively rigid wall 52 made of wood, metal, plastic, orthe like, and having a suitably finished upper surface 54. At its lowersurface the plate 52 is fixed in any suitable way as by glue, screws, orthe like, to a pair of smaller square plates 56 which in turn are fixedwith lower extensions 58 made of the same tubular stock as the tubularstock used for any of the upper frames referred to above so that theselower extensions 58 may be received, for example, in the left leg 28 andthe supportstub 32 of FIG. 1.

Finally, FIG. 6 illustrates a further embodiment of an upper frame 60according to the invention. This upper frame 60 is made of the sametubular stock as any of the upper frames referred to above, but in thiscase the upper frame 60 is not inclined as is the case with the frames34 and 44. Instead the entire frame is located in a single verticalplane, although its opposed side arms are inclined inwardly toward eachother. These arms terminate in the lower extensions 62 which are adaptedto be telescopically received in supports such as the left leg 28 ofFIG. 1 and the support stub 32. It will be noted that in this case alsothe upper frame 60 is reinforced by an elongated rod 64.

In addition to the components described above, the present inventioncomtemplates the use of legs and support stubs which are offsetoutwardly beyond the lower frame for a purpose referred to below. Thus,FIG. 5 fragmentarily illustrates part of the frame 20 of FIG. 1 which inthe case of FIG. 5 forms an article of furniture which may be identicalwith that of FIG. 1 except that the left leg 28 of FIG. 1 is replaced bya leg 66 and the support stub 32 of FIG. 1 is replaced by a support stub68. The relatively long leg 66 of FIG. 5 has upwardly beyond the frame20 an outwardly inclined portion 70 which terminates in an upper end 72adapted to receive the left lower extension 62 of the frame 60 of FIG.6. The support stub 68 has an outwardly inclined portion 74 fixed to andextending upwardly and outwardly from the frame 20 and terminating in avertical portion which is adapted to telescopically receive the rightlower extension 62 of the frame 60 of FIG. 6. Thus, in this case, aswill be apparent from the description below, these outwardly offset legsand support stubs are adapted to be used with a vertical frame of thetype shown in FIG. 6 which is to form part of a relatively thin arm ofthe article of furniture.

It is possible by combining the component described above and shown inFIGS. 1-6 in different ways to achieve an almost limitless varieth inthe configurations of the articles of furniture. For this purpose alower frame such as the frame 20 of FIG. 1 with preselected legs andsupport stubs fixed thereto is embedded in a block of resilient foamplastic. Although manydifferent plastics are available for this purpose,it is preferred to use a urethane foam which is wrapped in a relativelypuffy coat of Dacron. The urethane foam is reinforced by the frame andleg structure as well as the spring assembly 30, and preferably theurethane foam is selfskinned. In other words the cells may be closed atthe outer surface of the block of urethane foam. The surrounding coat ofDacron lends an additional softness to the structure.

Thus, referring to FIG. 8, there is shown therein the lower frame andleg assembly of FIG. 1 in a side elevation with the resilient plasticblock in which the components are embedded being illustrated in adot-dash line illustration. Thus, FIG. 8 shows in phantom lines a lowerblock 76 in which the lower frame 20 and the legs and support stub fixedthereto are embedded. For this purpose the lower frame 20 and the legsand support stub fixed thereto are placed in a mold in which the foamplastic is molded. It will be: noted that the legs extend downwardlybeyond the block 76 into engagement with the floor 78, and the bottomsof the legs may be closed with any suitable closure elements whichengage the floor 78 in a predetermined manner. The block of foam plasticsurrounded with Dacron extends all the way up to the stops of the legs28 and the support stub 32 in the illustrated example. In theillustrated example the upper frame 34 as well as the upper frame 44 arealso embedded in a block of resilient foam plastic which is surroundedwith Dacron in the manner described above. Thus, FIG. 8 shows at theright the frame 34 embedded in a block 82 and at the left the frame 44embedded in a block 84. These blocks 82 and 84 are also shown in phantomlines and are composed of the urethane foam surrounded by the Dacron. Itwill be noted that in the case of the upper frames 34 and 44, the lowerextensions thereof extend downwardly beyond the upper blocks 82 and 84to be received telescopically in the top ends of the legs and supportstub, in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 8. Thus, with thisparticular combination it is possible to provide as shown in FIG. 7 anelongated back 82 supported by the frame 34 and an elongated arm 84supported by the frame 44. The rest of the block 76 is not used tosupport any back or arm, and it will be noted that the one corner of theframe 20 which does not support an arm or back utilizes only therelatively short leg 26.

FIG. 9 shows the components of the block 84, namely the urethane foamplastic 84a encased at its top and sides within Dacron 84b. In the sameway the block 76 is made up of the urethane foam block 760 encasedwithin Dacron 76b which is at the top and sides of the block 76a.Moreover, FIG. 9 shows in detail how the upper portion of the leg 28,which is illustrated at the left in FIG. 8, telescopically receives thelower left extension 46 of the frame 44. Thus, because these extensions,such as the extensions 46 extend downwardly beyond the block 84, theyare free to be placed within the upper portions of the legs 28 or thesupporting stub 32, and a suitable screw 86 is provided to extendthrough aligned openings of the telescoped tubular portions for holdingthem together in the desired relationship, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Thedacron layer 76b is physically compressed to permit insertion of screw86.

Moreover, the block 84, the block 82, and the block 76 may be coveredwith any suitable fabric such as the fabric 88 shown covering the block84 in FIG. 9 and the fabric 90 shown covering the block 76in FIG. 9. Atthe places where the extensions, such as the extensions 46, extendbeyond the block 84 or the block 82, the fabric is provided with anopening reinforced by a suitable grommet such as the grommet 92 shown inFIG. 9, and in a similar manner in alignment with the leg 28 andsupporting stubs such as the stub 32 the fabric 90 is provided withsuitable openings reinforced by a grommet 94. When the extensions aretelescopically received in the top ends of the legs 28 or supportingstubs the upper portions of the article of furniture are pressed againstthe lower portions so that a construction as shown in FIG. 9 isprovided. It will be noted that with this construction there are nopockets in which dust can accumulate.

It will be noted with the article of furniture as shown in FIGS. 79 theupper back 82 and arm 84 include the upper frames 34 and 44 which areinclined outwardly beyond the lower frame 20. As a result of thisfeature when the occupant of the article of furniture leans back, theframe 34 will provide a relatively large volume of foam to support theoccupant, and in the same way should the occupant lean to the sideagainst the arm 84, the outwardly inclined frame 44 will act in the sameway.

Of course in the case of the arm 84 the shorter frame 44 coacts with thestub 32 in the same way that it coacts with the leg 28. In the case ofthe back 82 the longer frame 34 coacts with the pair of rear legs 28 inthe same way as described above in connection with the front end of theframe 44 and as shown in detail in FIG. 9.

FIG. 10 shows an exceedingly simple form of an article of furnitureaccording to the invention. This article is composed, as shown in FIG.10a, only of the frame 20 and four of the short legs 26. This frame ofFIG. 10a is embedded in the foam plastic block 76 in the mannerdescribed above, and in turn this block may be covered with a suitablefabric so as to provide in this way thearticle of furniture shown inFIG. 10. The manner in which the frame is enclosed within the block 76is illustrated in FIG. 10b. Of course, in the case of a quadrant frame22 as shown in FIG. 1A, the article of furniture of FIG. 10 would havethe configuration of a quadrant of a circle.

FIG. 11 shows an article of furniture which corresponds to that of FIGS.79 without the arm 84 and the frame 44 therein. Thus, in the case of thearticle of furniture shown in FIG. 11, the frame 20 has fixed to itsfront corners a pair of the legs 26 and to its rear corners a pair ofthe legs 28 which are joined with the longer frame 34 in the mannerdescribed above and shown in FIG. 11a. Thus, this article of furniturewhich is shown in FIG. 11 has, as shown in FIG. 11b, the frame 20 andthe front legs 26 and the rear legs 28 with the single block 82extending across the back of the article of furniture.

FIGS. 12, as well as 12a and 12b illustrate the article of furniturewhich was described in detail in connection with FIGS. 79.

Thus, it will be noted that the embodiment of FIG. 11 differs from thatof FIG. 10 by adding to the latter the back 82 while the embodiment ofFIG. 12 differs from that of FIG. 11 by adding to the embodiment of FIG.11 the arm 84.

The embodiment of FIG. 13 adds to that of FIG. 11 a pair of relativelythin arms 96. In this case, since all of the corners of the lower framesupport an arm or a back, the legs 28 are used for the rear corners.However, the legs 66 are used for the front corners because in this casethe front legs are inclined above the frame 20 outwardly beyond thelatter, as shown in FIG. 13a. Also, instead of the straight support stub32, the opposed sides of the frame 20 have fixed thereto the supportstubs 68 shown in FIG. 5. Because of the fact that the side arms 96 ofthis embodiment are relatively thin, the outwardly offset legs andsupport stubs are used in the case. Thus, the frame 60 shown in FIG. 6is embedded in a suitable block of plastic such as a urethane foamsurrounded by Dacron, and this combination is situated within a suitablefabric covering precisely as described above. The lower extensions 62are then telescopically received in the top ends of the legs 66 andstubs 68 and fastened thereto in a manner described above in connectionwith FIG. 9. In this way it is possible by using the frames 60 of FIG. 6and the outwardly inclined legs 66 and support stubs 68 to achieve anarticle of furniture having the configuration shown in FIG. 13 andillustrated in further detail in the top plan view of FIG. 13b.

Instead of adding to the structure which is shown in FIG. 10 arelatively long back 82, it is possible to add a relatively short backto achieve the construction" shown in FIG. 14. Thus, as may be seen fromFIG. 14, the block 76 is supported on the same frame 20 which in thiscase is connected only with short legs 26. This latter construction isapparent from FIG. 14a. Thus, in this case none of the corners of theframe 20 support an upper portion of the article of furniture sothatonly the short legs 26 are required. However, in order to supportthe relatively short back 84, since this back is identical with theblock 84 of FIG. 12, the rear portion of the frame 20 has fixed theretoa pair of support stubs 32'which are spaced inwardly from the rearcomers of the frame 20 so as to be situated from each other midwaybetween these rear corners by a distance equal to the distance betweenthe pair of lower extensions 46 of the frame 44. Thus simply byproviding the pair of stubs 32 in the manner shown in FIG. 14a it ispossible to achieve with the block 84 supported by the frame 44 in themanner described above an article of furniture as shown in FIG. 14. FIG.14b shows in plan view how the components are arranged.

FIG. shows an article of furniture of the invention which is identicalwith that of FIG. 11 except that a relatively low wide arm 98 has beenadded. This arm is made by incorporating the frame 40 of FIG. 2 in ablock of suitable plastic such asthe urethane foam encased within theDacron in the manner described above, and in this case the extensions 42are received in a front leg 28 and a support stub 32. These details ofthe frame structure are illustrated in FIG. 15a. FIG. 1512 shows in planview how the components are arranged. It will be noted that in thiscaseit is the front left corner which does not support any upper portion ofthe article of furniture and which therefore has the short leg 26 fixedthereto, while the remaining corners of the frame 20. have the longerlegs 28 fixed thereto with the rear legs supporting the frame 34 whilethe remaining front leg 28 and the support stub 32 support the frame 40.In this case the frame 32 is of course located at the right side of thearticle of funiture.

It is to be noted that instead of a low relatively wide arm 98 shown inFIG. 15, it is possible to replace this component with the table arm 50of FIG. 4, and of course it is possibleto locate the relatively wide arm98 or the table arm 50 at the side of the article of furniture oppositefrom that illustrated in FIG. 15 for the arm 98.

It is to be noted that the above specific examples are only a smallnumber of the possible various configurations of articles of furniturewhich may be made in accordance with the invention in accordance withselecting different combinations of the components of FIGS. l-6 to bejoined together in any of the ways described above. Moreover, because ofthe simple structure of the invention, apparent from FIGS. 10-15, it ispossible to place several of the articles of furniture according to theinvention which may have different configurations one next to the otherto form a sectional article of furniture. When'utilizing square orrectangular articles of furniture with quadrant-shaped articlesutilizing the frame 22 of FIG. 1A, it is possible for thesectionalarticle of furniture to have a wavy S-shaped configuration ofany desired attractive appearance simply by combining together articlesof furniture of predeterminedconfigurations.

Although in the above described examples the article of furniture ismade by preselected combinations of the components shown in FIGS. L6 anddescribed above, it is possible also to practice the invention byutilizing an arrangement as shown in FIGS. 16 and 16a. The particulararticle of fumiture illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 16a corresponds to thatshown in FIG. 11. Thus, the frame 20 has the short legs 26 fixed to itsfront corners. However, in this case instead of long rear legs and aframe 34, the rear frame structure is formed on a single elongated tubereinforced only by the rod 102 and having in one piece the configurationresulting from the combination of a pair of legs 28 and the frame 34 asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 11a. This frame structure whichis shown in FIG. 16a, and of course including a spring assembly 30 asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 1, is then placed in a suitablemold so that a single body of plastic is molded directly onto the frameforming a one-piece molded plastic body 104 shown in phantom lines inFIG. 16. In this case also the block 104 may be composed of an innerurethane foam plastic covered by Dacron, and then the entire assemblymay be covered with a suitable fabricfThus, while the embodiment ofFIGS. 16 and.

16a corresponds to that of FIG. 11., it has, for the added costsrequired by the unitary frame and block structure, a still more ruggedconstruction than that shown in FIG. 11. Thus if the added costsrequired by the manufacture of a more unitary article as shown in FIGS.16 and 16a is justified, it is still possible to practice the inventionwith an arrangement as illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 16a, so that only aone-piece foam plastic structure and a unitary frame structure isutilized. This same principle may be applied to any of the embodimentsof the invention described above.

Also, the basic components of this invention readily lend themselves tothe utilization with other components of a decorative nature. Forexample, the embodiments disclosed hereinabove have simple tubular legs.However, these legs may be used to form a framework for bases of otherdesigns. A decorative sleeve or a sleeve having a larger outsidediameter could be overfitted on the tubular leg components. An entirelydifferent leg effect could be created by applying a U- shaped tubularleg over each pair of side legs or by securing wooden base members tothe leg components. By way of the foregoing examples, the versatility ofthe instant invention is underscored.

What is claimed is: I

1. An article of furniture comprising a lower seat portion including anendless lower seat frame, a plurality of separateelongated legs adaptedto be fixed to said seat frame and to project downwardly therefrom, atleast two seat frame post members mounted on said seat frame andextending upwardly therefrom and a block of resilient foam plasticcompletely surrounding said seat frame and at least a portion of each ofsaid legs and seat frame post members adjacent said seat frame; and anupper seat portion defining at least one of an arm or back of saidarticle of furniture, said upper seat portion including an upper portionframe, at least two upper portion post members mounted on said upperportion frame positioned for registration with said seat frame postmembers, and an upper block of resilient foam plastic completelysurrounding said upper portion frame and at least a portion of saidupper portion post members adjacent to said upper portion frame; andmeans permitting the releasable couplingof said upper portion postmembers and said seat frame lower frame is of a geometric shape.

4. An article of furniture as recited in claim 1, wherein at least aportion of said seat frame post members are formed integral with and asextensions of a corresponding portion of said legs.

5. The combination of claim 1 including a relatively flat rigid wallforming a table arm, said wall being fixed to at least two table armpost members which extend downwardly from said wall, said lower seatmember including further post members mounted on said seat frame forregistration with said table arm post members, said table arm andfurther post members including said releasable coupling means.

6. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a sheet material covers all ofsaid blocks and is formed with openings surrounding said extensions andsaid long legs, said sheet material having grommets at said openings.

1. An article of furniture comprising a lower seat portion including anendless lower seat frame, a plurality of separate elongated legs adaptedto be fixed to said seat frame and to project downwardly therefrom, atleast two seat frame post members mounted on said seat frame andextending upwardly therefrom and a block of resilient foam plasticcompletely surrounding said seat frame and at least a portion of each ofsaid legs and seat frame post members adjacent said seat frame; and anupper seat portion defining at least one of an arm or back of saidarticle of furniture, said upper seat portion including an upper portionframe, at least two upper portion post members mounted on said upperportion frame positioned for registration with said seat frame postmembers, and an upper block of resilient foam plastic completelysurrounding said upper portion frame and at least a portion of saidupper portion post members adjacent to said upper portion frame; andmeans permitting the releasable coupling of said upper portion postmembers and said seat frame post members, said releasable coupling meansincluding a socket formed in one of each of said seat frame post membersand said upper portion post members for receiving the other of thecorresponding seat frame post member and said upper portion post member.2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein at least some of said legs andframes include sections which are inclined relative to a vertical axisthrough a horizontal plane which includes the lower seat portion.
 3. Thecombination of claim 1 and wherein said lower frame is of a geometricshape.
 4. An article of furniture as recited in claim 1, wherein atleast a portion of said seat frame post members are formed integral withand as extensions of a corresponding portion of said legs.
 5. Thecombination of claim 1 including a relatively flat rigid wall forming atable arm, said wall being fixed to at least two table arm post memberswhich extend downwardly from said wall, said lower seat member includingfurther post members mounted on said seat frame for registration withsaid table arm post members, said table arm and further post membersincluding said releasable coupling means.
 6. The combination of claim 1and wherein a sheet material covers all of said blocks and is formedwith openings surrounding said extensions and said long legs, said sheetmaterial having grommets at said openings.